Thorburn: CU Buffs welcome Ray Polk's return to secondary

Unfortunately for the Buffs, they can't go back and change the results.

Still, Colorado's coaches and players can't help but wonder how the first five games of the season might have been different with Ray Polk in the lineup.

How important is the fifth-year senior free safety to this team?

Even though he was lost due to a painful ankle injury early in the Sept. 1 opener against Colorado State, Polk has been named a team captain in four games this season.

"When he went down in the CSU game, I know in my heart if he would have been in there, their two touchdowns don't happen just because of the communication issue," CU head coach Jon Embree said during his Tuesday press luncheon. "That's how big it is having someone like Ray Polk back."

Perhaps if the Polk-led CU defense holds off the Rams -- who rallied in the second half to beat the Buffs 22-17 at Sports Authority Field in Denver -- the team plays with much more confidence in the home opener against Sacramento State.

Instead, the FCS Hornets took advantage of the wide-eyed and out-of-sync secondary as Garrett Saffron passed for 312 yards and two touchdowns. A pass interference call against freshman cornerback Kenneth Crawley and a clutch 11-yard completion by Saffron set up Edgar Castaneda's game-winning field goal at the buzzer.

A week later at Fresno State, communication problems and blown assignments allowed the Bulldogs to score touchdowns of 97, 94 and 60 yards en route to a 69-14 romp.

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Polk watched helplessly as the unthinkable unfolded and CU fell to 0-3 against a seemingly favorable non-conference schedule.

"It's been hard. It's been a hard season," Polk said. "You get what life hands you. It's unfortunate, but there's nowhere to go but put your head down and keep working."

During the bye week, Polk worked hard to get healthy. He doesn't know for sure that he will be able to play in Thursday night's key home game against Arizona State, but for the first time since the injury there is a chance.

"I'm going to try to go, but if it's not ready I'm not going to be a liable risk for the team," Polk said before Tuesday's practice.

The Buffs (1-4, 1-1) are last in the Pac-12 in scoring defense (39.4 ppg), last in passing defense (308.8 ypg), and 11th in total defense (474.4 ypg).

Defensive coordinator Greg Brown, who should also be getting linebacker Doug Rippy back, needs all hands on deck as CU prepares for a daunting October that also includes road games at USC and Oregon.

Matt Barkley threw for a Trojan-record six touchdown passes against last year's injury-depleted CU secondary.

The Ducks beat the Buffs 45-2 in Boulder without their starting quarterback or running back even suiting up.

"We're waiting with open arms for Ray Polk to return, whenever that may be," Brown said. "It's kind of reminiscent in a way of when Anthony Perkins came back from his ankle after missing six games and was able to play against Utah in his last game."

With Perkins and Polk finally working in tandem, the Buffs were able to win a 17-14 defensive struggle in Salt Lake City in the 2011 finale to end the program's 24-game road losing streak.

"The thing that was striking about that game, besides getting Anthony back, was it was the first time since the second game against Cal that we had our five original starters all together," Brown recalled. "It helped. We were able to call some things in that game that we had not been able to call up until that time because these guys were able to handle it.

"There was more maturity in that group and more cohesiveness. It certainly helped play a part in that victory that day."

Polk's presence would certainly help Crawley, Marques Mosley and Yuri Wright on Thursday when they take the ESPN prime-time stage for the first time.

With sophomore cornerback Greg Henderson back from his injury, and Parker Orms and Terrel Smith feeling confident about their recent big-play contributions at the safety positions, suddenly Brown has some intriguing pieces to work with.

He'll need them against the Pac-12 South Division-leading Sun Devils, who are averaging 38.4 points and 456.2 yards during a 4-1 start.

"For freshmen to come into a program and be able to get significant playing time is huge. I think right now they're doing a great job of handling it and by the time they are done they're going to be great football players," Polk said of his understudies. "The two biggest things they need to work on are individual assignments and just actually talking out there, knowing who's got what and understanding where your help is."

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